It was long overdue, but it finally happened. The Mavs fired head coach
Jim Cleamons. They also fired assistant coaches Butch Beard and Sonny
Allen. Don Nelson was named as head coach and he will coach at least
through the rest of the seasons (and it sounded like he will coach
longer). He retains his GM title. Ron Ekker was moved from director of
scouting to assistant coach. Assistants Bob Salami and Charlie Parker
retained their jobs. [Initial reports were that Parker would coach the
New York game (due to his familiarity with the team and having had
prepared for the game). The decision was made later in the day that
Nelson would take over immediately and coach the game.] Cleamons ends his
coaching career in Dallas with a record of 28-70.
As I think back to what Cleamons has done in his time with the Mavs, I'm
amazed that I don't have the same bitterness about him as I do Quinn
Buckner. I guess that is because Cleamons comes across as a very nice guy
who was simply misguided into thinking his way was the only way. Some
will argue that Cleamons never had a stable group of players and, thus,
never had a chance to succeed. As one who saw almost all of the regular
season games Cleamons coached, that is not the case. Try thinking of
anything he did right. I can't come up with anything. Here is a coach
who managed to alienate 3 separate groups of players. His stubborn
insistence of using (can't say "running") a half court offense despite
having players whose strengths were in running and then continuing using
the half court offense even though it was shown to be a disaster for the
Mavs was simply stupid. And he consistently brushed aside comments about
the problem being with the system not being suited for the players. I
sat next to the relative of a player during a game last April and he
made a comment about how the two of them were watching a Phoenix game and
the player said that Cleamons would never let them run like that, that
Cleamons would go nuts if he ever tried to do that. I simply shook my
head and mistakenly thought that we would only have a month longer to
put up with Cleamons. Sadly, Ross Perot decided to give Cleamons a
second shot. [Nelson wanted to fire Cleamons at the end of the season,
but Perot said no. The funny thing is that if Nelson had fired Cleamons
during the off season, he would have likely hired one of his "boys" (Garry
St. Jean, Paul Westphal, Donn Nelson) instead of becoming head coach
himself.] Cleamons responded by trying to implement the triangle offense
as the team's primary offense. A mere two games into the season the
players revolted (actually Khalid Reeves) and threw out the triangle
offense to initiate an incredible rally to win a game versus Seattle
where they were down by 20 points at one point. That's the only bright
spot from the season. The triangle offense has resulted in numerous
24-second violations and desperation shots/misses as the shot clock was
running out. Very rarely has the triangle produced points within the
offense. Every set of players Cleamons' has had has grumbled publically
about about Cleamons' offense and not allowing the players to run. With
his first set of players of Kidd, Jackson, and Mashburn it was obvious
that the team's strength was in the running game, not the half court
game where you need dominate inside presence to succeed (and Dallas had
Eric Montross and Chris Gatling as their main big men). Yet Cleamons
refused to adjust his system to suit the talent of his team. So he
decided Jason Kidd was the problem and must go (more on that later) and
traded him for Sam Cassell, Michael Finley, and A.C. Green. Both
Cassell and Finley are also players that excel in the running game and
suffer in the half-court game. Yet Cleamons still ran the half-court
offense. A good coach teaches to the strength of his team, not trying
to force the players to be something they are not. With the Mavs still
struggling to win games and the fall-out from the Kidd trade, the
ownership finally hired a true GM (compared to what they had in Frank
Zaccanelli). Nelson came in and traded most of the team away. Cleamons
now had Bradley, Pack, Reeves, and Danilovic added to the mix. Of the 3,
only Bradley would benefit in the half court offense. Pack is a running
point guard. So they struggled the rest of the season as Cleamons stood
behind the half court offense and the team continued to add low scoring
games to the team's record book. The Mavs had 12 games under 80 points
in 96-97. Then came this season where the team further struggled to the
tune of a 62 point game versus Milwaukee. The players grumbled about the
triangle offense and not knowing what they were supposed to do in the
game. The grumbles grew louder and more public as the offense continued
to be ineffective. And, believe me, it was very painful to watch.
Cleamons continued to ask for patience while turning a blind eye to the
fact that what he had been trying to do for over a year was simply not
working. His stubbornness and unwillingness to adjust was the reasons he
was fired. The firing was not about wins and losses (granted he probably
would not have been fired with more wins), but about preaching a boring,
ineffective system and refusing to change. If the team had been lossing
but showing improvement and promise, he would not have been fired.
I won't even go into Cleamons' player rotation and player minutes.
Cleamons' legacy will be the one that haunts the team for the next 5
years - the trading of Jason Kidd. Just look at Phoenix. Those people in
Arizona will be forever thankful to the Dallas idiocy. Not only did they
sign free agents Clifford Robinson and George McCloud for below market
value because the players wanted to play with Kidd, but they have future
free agents like Scottie Pippen saying that they would love to play in
Phoenix. Sure Kidd was a problem child, but he is a talent that in a
running system other players simply want to play beside.
As for Don Nelson, his reputation was tarnished by his problem with Chris
Webber a few years ago and his firing by New York with a record of 34-25
in March, 1996. Despite that he was selected as one of the ten best
coaches in league history as part of the NBA's 50th year celebration. He
has a career coaching record of 851-629 (852 with the win vs. New York)
and a playoff record of 51-61. Nelson was named Coach of the Year three
times (1983, 1985, 1992) - only he and Pat Riley have won the award
three times. He preaches the running game and is known for his love of
bizarre lineups. He demonstrated that in the game vs New York where he
started Green, Scott, Finley, Reeves, and Strickland. He topped that in
the 4th quarter when he installed a lineup of Ollie, Davis, Reeves,
Finley, and Scott. And it worked. There even was a minute of Scott
guarding Ewing - and Scott knocked the ball out of Ewing's hands as Ewing
was posting up. Though it was just one game and the Mavs had some
momentum with the coaching change, it was fun. I had a great time. The
team ran a lot and seemed to enjoy themselves. And New York was reacting
to what the Mavs were doing instead of the usual Cleamons reacting to
what the other coach was doing. One of the things I watched during part
of the game was the point differential between Ewing and Green (it was 4
points most of the game). For a change, it was the opponent that was
not taking advantage of an obvious mismatch. I can't tell you how many
times Bradley would have a much smaller player on him yet he would never
even touch the ball on offense (Weatherspoon this year and Webber and
Antoine Walker last year pop to mind). Another thing I noticed during
the game was the coaching Nelson would do during the game. In the first
quarter while the team was on defense, he would be over talking to the
players on the bench. And when a free throw was taking place, he'd have
one of the players on the floor over to talk to. Golden State and New
York fans can make as many negative comments as they want about Nelson,
but for now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it.
Quotes
Don Nelson: "Things weren't headed in the right direction with the team.
It's important for us to show progress on the court this season. In order
to do that, I felt a change was needed. We have some talented young
players and we didn't want to let the season slip away. Ownership
supported my decision, then asked me to take over the club and I accepted.
I'm excited about our potential. We will have an up-tempo offense and a
solid defensive base. We have some good runners on the team, so we should
be pretty fun to watch."
Nelson: "Everyone gets beat up at a time like this [when a coach is
fired], but it's a change we had to make. We basically felt our team was
headed in the wrong direction; we felt that needed to be rectified. It's
hard to have fun when you're losing, but it's not impossible. Ross has
said, and I believed it when he said it to Jim Cleamons and when he said
it to me, that wins and losses don't matter as long as we're headed in the
right direction. We have to have a product the fans enjoy and like and
have a product our players enjoy and like."
Nelson: "I want the game to be fun for the players. I want the players to
play a fun style."
Nelson: "I truly feel that Dallas will have a new arena someday, and it
will be the best building in the NBA, second to none. I believe that we
can have a Phoenix Suns situation here, in which players are drawn to the
city because of the style of ball that we play, the excitement of the fans
we bring to the game and a beautiful new arena. We are just starting and
have a long way to go. There is no doubt about that, but hopefully I can
bring all that to this organization." [This snibbit came towards the end
of Nelson's opening statement and there was more emotion in it than prior
statements. He had been generally trying not to say anything bad about
Cleamons, just that a change was needed, and was avoiding being critical
of the situation. I nearly ran off the road with laughter when he made
the Phoenix comment - whether intentional or not, a clear slam at the
trading of Jason Kidd.]
Nelson on what he plans to do as coach: "Play more exciting and better
basketball. Entertainment is our goal. We want to be up-tempo, active,
and creative. And then try to work in different young players, get them
ready, while also emphasizing more the talents of a Dennis Scott."
Nelson on the Mavs: "I believe in this bunch more than anyone, and I
should. I'm responsible for bringing them in. I will have the usual
problem of guys not happy with minutes, but overall there won't be a lack
of respect any longer. They know I know what I'm doing."
Nelson on his stint with New York: "The only thing disappointing about New
York were my last three weeks there. I got sideways with a couple of
players, and it turned very quickly. Once that happens, I don't know if
there was anything I could have done differently."
Nelson on his first game back coaching: "I really felt like I hadn't
missed a beat."
Ross Perot: "It became obvious that the team wasn't playing the way we
needed to play, wasn't going in the direction we wanted. Don and I
started talking about different ideas, different coaches, and it became
pretty obvious that the most experienced guy available that knew his team
was Don Nelson."
Perot: "Don Nelson is a warrior. He sees the battle. He knows he can
have an impact. He knows he can get these guys turned around and
winning."
Jim Cleamons: "I understand people have a job to do, but I have a job to
do also. [With] time, I'll do the job. If I don't get the time to do the
job, I'll do it somewhere else."
Cleamons: "I know it's not me. I've been around good basketball my whole
life. I know it's not me."
Erick Strickland: "A lot of guys were frustrated. I don't think everyone
was frustrated with Clem. I like Clem. I think Clem is a great person.
We just needed to be rejuvenated."
Strickland on the game: "It just feels like we've got a monkey off our
back. We have the freedom to play and do our thing, with some assistance
and guidance. That's what made it fun."
Dennis Scott: "The best thing I like about Nellie is that he shoots
straight. It's his presence. He's a legend."
Scott: "[Nelson] released me. He got me out of jail. I can be free now."
Scott: "I'm just happy to be a basketball player again."
Khalid Reeves: "After hearing the coach before the game and what he
wanted us to do, we were excited because it was the kind of style we've
wanted to play all along. It was NBA offense, having fun, playing
basketball the way you did growing up."
Michael Finley: "It's two different men, two different coaches, two
different philosophies. I think the main thing for us as a team is to go
in with an open mind, to learn to go out there and play hard."
Robert Pack: "It got me anxious to get back out there. Guys played hard
and got up and down the court."
Other Mavs news
Work has been really busy for the past few weeks and will probably
continue to be so for most of December, so my game reports have gone out
the window (despite my best intentions to eventually get around to doing
them). Basically a lot of very crappy games. The Milwaukee pathetic
excuse of a game was one of the worst games I've seen since the Atlanta
game last year. The only bright spot in the past few games is that
Samaki Walker has looked very good filling in for Bradley and pretty much
held his own against Dikembe Mutombo.
Shawn Bradley suffered a moderate tear of the left calf muscle during
last Friday's Dallas-Toronto game and will be out about another week and
a half.
The really sad news is that former Mav Popeye Jones suffered a torn ACL
in his left knee during Sunday's Toronto-Laker game and will be out for
the season.
The Mavs activated Martin Muursepp November 24 and placed Kurt Thomas on
IR with a fractured right ankle.
With much hoopla thrown by the Mavs, A.C. Green set the NBA Ironman streak
of consecutive games played at 907 games during the Golden State debacle
November 20. Green broke Randy Smith's record of 906.
The Mavs are sponsoring a toy drive. If you bring a new toy to any
December game, you will receive a voucher for $5 off a $15-42 ticket good
for any December or January game.
patricia